USA

ByCompiled from wire service reports by Ross AtkinOctober 8, 2008

Federal prosecutors of Illinois political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who has ties to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama, moved Monday to indefinitely delay his sentencing for his conviction in a $7 million kickback scheme.The postponement is seen as a signal that Rezko could be ready to share political secrets in exchange for a lighter sentence. Although Rezko has raised money for Blagojevich and Obama, neither politician has been implicated in any wrongdoing.

The mother of a Long Beach, Calif., gang member was convicted of second-degree murder Monday for driving her son and his friends to the scene of the fatal fight. Eva Daley, who had been charged with first-degree murder, claimed she didn't know what was going to occur. Both she and her son face 15 years to life in prison.

Angered by the US decision to sell $6.5 billion in arms andother military items to Taiwan, China abruptly canceled several military and diplomatic visits with senior American officials, the Defense Department said Monday. The action, however, will not affect China's participation in multination efforts to deal with North Korean and Iranian nuclear development.

A secretly taped conversation was submitted as evidence Monday in the trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R) of Alaska, who is charged with lying on financial disclosure forms to conceal more than $250,000 in cabin renovations. On the tape, Stevens suggests that he and a friend lie low while the FBI investigates alleged wrongdoing, even though Stevens also says he didn't think they'd done anything wrong.

Environmentalists hailed a plan to harness New Jersey's wind power Monday. The state's strategy for promoting offshore wind projects to produce 13 percent of New Jersey's total energy needs by 2020 was called "the most visionary" in the nation.

Online auction site eBay will cut 1,600 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, the San Jose, Calif.-based company announced Monday.